Viewers of the new Netflix true crime doc Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare have come away asking one very specific question.
“What the f**k?”
The story is absolutely insane, portraying a catfish story that lasted almost ten years.
The victim of the case, Kirat Assi, thought she was dating a man named Bobby Jandu for nine years - from 2009 to 2018.
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Bobby, who she thought was a ‘friend of her cousin’s’, contacted her on Facebook and the pair seemingly hit it off. She never saw his face or met him in person throughout their nine year relationship, however.
The beginning of the red flags for many comes when Kirat explains why they rarely spoke over the phone, or when they did it was whispered.
‘Bobby’ claimed that his vocal chords were damaged due to an operation, so he could rarely speak.
And whenever she would attempt to meet up with him, he would have a lot of excuses - ranging from being 'shot six times' in Kenya or his mental health.
As well as this, 'Bobby' went as far as saying he was in witness protection and that’s what why he couldn’t see her.
Kirat eventually decided to hire a private investigator to get to the bottom of it - and it turned out that Bobby wasn't who he said he was.
‘Bobby’ however, was actually Kirat’s second cousin, Simran, who explained why she'd done it in a letter to Kirat after she took her cousin to civil court.
Sky News reports that Simran had declined to be interviewed for the documentary, with her representatives saying: "This matter involves events that began when she was a schoolgirl.
“She considers it a private matter and strongly objects to what she describes as 'numerous unfounded and damaging accusations'.”
Kirat told Sky News that she'd 'let go' of any resentment towards Simran, adding: "Now, I just need to know how she did it.”
Some viewers were left shocked after discovering the lengths Simran had supposedly went to in order to maintain the act.
One person said: “Wherever you are, it shall never be well with you. You are a sick, evil, mentally deranged individual, and I feel so sorry for your friends and family. #SweetBobby.”
While another called her 'a genius', adding: "My God, the dedication and skill required to pull that off."
One of the specific ways that Simran reportedly pulled off her lies was by employing and running 60 different Facebook accounts regularly to give the impression that Bobby was also a part of the same community as Kirat.
A viewer on Reddit commented: “Who has the time and energy to make up 60 FAKE PROFILES AND KEEP UP WITH THEM??”
Another replied: “For real, her cousin is insane. I'm wondering how she had so much time on her hands.
“As a school kid I guess it makes sense, but after school when she started working. HOW did she find the time?! There's a lot of admin work and notes she had to take to keep up with the characters.
“Not to mention being ‘Bobby’ was probably time consuming enough."
Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare is on Netflix now
Topics: Documentaries, Facebook, Netflix, Social Media, True Crime, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin